So over at 3D Art LIVE Paul Bussey has managed to involve the wonderful John Haverkamp to show us how to use ZBrush to create the mythical Dragon.It’s such a breath of fresh air to watch what steps someone else might take to produce a Dragon in ZBrush. John really knows his stuff and everything included in the first webinar was really useful. I can’t wait for the second part tomorrow.I got a chance to work on a Dragon in a previous webinar, so I thought I’d include some of my work here.

Things have been really slow, probably due to my health. It’s been a really slow recovery, as you can see from my Blog updates. But I feel like it’s slowly coming back.I’m getting into Terragen, which is a 3D terrain generator. I used Vue originally, but in my opinion Terragen is the one for me. It was thanks to Paul at 3D Art LIVE, who introduced me to this awesome application by running a couple of webinars.I’m still learning ZBrush and have discovered 3D Art LIVE, which is a golden nugget. They organise webinars for anyone interested in learning 3D. They cover more than one application and professional artists within the industry are invited to share their workflows, as well as other really useful information. The webinars are so affordable it’s a must.

Where on earth has time gone. My last post was made way back in Nov 2013. I was really hoping to keep this blog update by entering my experiences, thoughts and learning experiences at least once a week. So why have I waited over a year.There are no excuses, but I’m going to try my best to make some. I can’t put my finger on it, but I have just found that after a hard day’s work it’s really hard to sit at my cintiq and start creating. I have no idea whether the IBS is involved in any way, but that side of things have really improved.

Well I joined yet another webinar, through visualarium (sister website to ZBrush Central). Sam Kennedy was the class tutor and I learnt so much from his workflow.I’ve always look on DAZ Studio as a hobbyist tool. But using it in conjunction with other apps, such as ZBrush open doors to reducing workflow times by more than double. This is something that is really essential to my workflow. I need to repeat a character throughout my Graphic Novel, so rather than re-drawing the multitude of poses, I need something that will pose my character to save essential time.The work below was produced by me as part of Sam Kennedy’s class. I used DAZ to pose the characters and ZB to clothe the male. Te female was dressed inside DAZ. Colours and textures were added inside ZB and rendered out as passes to photoshop to finish off.

The link between ZBrush and DAZ gave me this power. However, over the last couple of weeks yet another time safer has come to my attention - Marvelous Designer.This is an application that Sam Kennedy has added to his workflow and you can see why.The speed with which you can adjust morphs in DAZ to create a unique character, import into Marvelous Designer to dress your character and back to DAZ means you could finish a complete concept in eight hours or less, if you understand the interface.

I’m still trying to improve on my anatomy knowledge and Ray Bustos is my best option there. My next step is to get my characters into Marvelous Designer to clothe.These updates to my workflow don’t rule out ZBrush, because I’ll still needs to produce buttons zippers and many more. But of course I love ZBrush so much I wouldn’t want to let it go. It’s really good practice to keep up with anatomy and sculpting.

One excuse is that I’m being kept very busy still learning ZBrush. However I’m also learning about anatomy, which is the foundation of sculpting life.

www.ZBrushWorkshops.com in my opinion is by far the best ZBrush learning experience. My introduction to ZBrush Workshops was Sculpting Games: MP5-K, which has been covered earlier in this blog. I was so impressed I joined the ‘Anatomy 2.0’ workshop and have found that a knowledge in anatomy would provide better results in sculpting anatomy.Half way through this workshop Ryan Kingslien (the originator of ZBW) announced a new workshop, which would include the learning skills of Cesar Dacol jr teaching Creature Designs.

So I didn’t hesitate and joined immediately. We now have 3 weeks left of ten and for me it’s like a dream come true. Being taught by a sculptor who has always inspired me is a wonderful experience.Every Tuesday night (UK time) we get to watch the master in action. We also get to listen to Cesar’s experienced advise as well as the wise voice of Ryan.On a Friday night (UK time) Ryan organises a Crit. This is when Cesar provides us with positive advice on how to improve our sculpting skills.

OK it’s not free, but I for one am able to justify the money I have spent for the amount I have learnt. Watching an edited DVD is no comparison to watching a great artist working live in ZBrush. If he makes any mistakes or ZBrush crashes you get to see how he resolves these hurdles and appreciate these things even happen to the professionals.

See my progress below:

‘Rippler’ and ‘Spooner’ where sculpted at the request of Cesar, so he could get a feel of our ability. The most positive feedback he gave me was my creativity ability.He mentioned that I needed to work on my knowledge of anatomy.

The next project was to create a freak. I got started but then ran out of time. Cesar again brought up my basic knowledge of anatomy, which I needed to improve on.I had all ready joined the Anatomy 2.0 class, but joined the Creature Design class half way through. There’s no way I could keep up with both so the plan is to return to Anatomy 2.0 and solidify my anatomy knowledge.

The next webinar consisted of Cesar sculpting an insectoid, which we had to follow. ‘CraBeetle’ is what I came up with and Cesar recommended a couple of improvements which I am hoping to carry out soon.

‘FatCow’ was my last sculpt and I felt an improvement in using Cesar’s techniques. Cesar’s crit was to make some anatomical changes, which I will do very soon.

So I needed some help, getting my head around the new features of Zbrush 4.I went on a google search. Whilst there are teasers available regarding the new features of ZBrush 4, I couldn’t find anything with any meat on it. The two books I mentioned in an earlier blog (‘Introducing ZBrush 4’ by Eric Keller and ‘ZBrush Character Creation vol.2’ by Scott Spencer) were answering my questions, but it was a slow process.I eventually discovered a gem, an article in a 3D magazines providing the answer to my frustration.

I touched on this resource briefly in my last Blog, but I have been spending almost every evening working my way through Ryan Kingslien’s Workshop.Ryan Kingslien was one of the first to help in the development of ZBrush. So he really knows what he is talking about. His method of teaching is so easy to watch and you get so much more from the Workshops than you initially thought you would.My choice of Worshops was the ‘MP5-K’, which I felt provided the answers to my questions and boy were they answered.

So what have I learnt:Spotlight, ShadowBox, Lightbox, Image Plane, Remeshing, ProjectingClip Brushes, Trim Brushes.Relax & Polish (under Deformation pallet).The importance of creating a clean mesh, if there is a need to add detail in a particular area.Hollowing out a SubTool, using Extract.A more in-depth understanding of Decimation Master.Learning from my mistakes and adjusting to correcting something.and much much more...

Below are a few examples of the model I managed to produce. At this stage I’m not really bothered about accuracy, but what this Workshop has provided is a learning experience I can’t equal.

I have ingested tutorial books and tutorial DVD, but I have never learnt as much about ZBrush as I have whilst following Ryan Kingslien’s Workshop.There are a handful of Workshops available and there is a small price to pay, however once you have registered, you have access to the forums and your workshop for 12 months.

I really can’t sing Ryan’s praises enough, so pop over to zbrushworkshops.com to find out for your self.

Another wonderful gem I spotted recently was an article in ‘3D artist’ (issue 29). I currently use the iPad App - 3DArtist to download their monthly issues. However due to the DVD content I went out and bought a copy. On page 80 there is some advice on Rendering in ZBrush, which is something I’ve been searching for since I started using ZBrush. The article covers Rendering in ZBrush 4 and the new BPR feature. The DVD contains a 28min tutorial on the process. So I am really looking forward to running the tutorial.

In the same issue of ‘3DArtist’ is a small article on page 113, detailing a new line of tutorials by thethirdguild.com. I was that impressed I bought and downloaded ‘Characters Made Easy Bundle’. I’ve yet to begin ingesting the tutorial but this is another I’m looking forward to.What interested me in this particular tutorial was the inclusion of UV Master, which is something else I’ve been desperate to fully understand.

Working smoothly in ZBrush at a comfortable pace is understanding which is the most efficient way to deal with a SubTool before you start.This means learning ZBrush until it becomes second nature. I for one now feel like I’m getting there, two years down the line.